


Messy Lunch

by phantomchajo



Series: SilverHawks: Beta-Verse [5]
Category: SilverHawks
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-01-13
Updated: 2014-01-13
Packaged: 2018-01-08 14:52:02
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,793
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1133952
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/phantomchajo/pseuds/phantomchajo
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Sometimes Lunch can be a messy affair.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Messy Lunch

**Author's Note:**

> This entire series was written as an RP on a message board I created, so when you see '~~' it means a change in writers.

'Messy Lunch',

 

Five minutes later, she was striding down the hall again to the main door. Within moments the classroom doors opened as the cadets poured out in a flood. It was lunch time there for everything was going to be packed. She silently scowled at the thought. Outside of the Dorm/Classroom building, the noise of close to two hundred cadets became a muted sea of voices. The trip across the open air parade ground was like traffic on the free-way going through L.A. during Noon time Lunch Rush. Pure chaos unless you knew exactly where you were going and how to get there.

Lunch first, commissary next, then time to get back, put things away, gather her books, homework and other items of important, and head to Advanced Flight Class. Where she would spend the following two hours listening to the instructor babble and drone on about something she had taken the semester previously and passed with a 4.0 GPA.

Once inside the Mess hall, she waited in line for the next twenty minutes before she was able to get something to eat. In the beginning of her stay, she got strange looks for getting chef salads and bottled water for lunch. Everyone thought she’d go for meat (preferably raw meat) and little else. Once she had her meal it took another five to ten minutes before she found an empty seat near the wall, away from most of the trafficked areas. Everything seemed to be going just perfect for the moment.. too perfect.

~~

The door swung open and was nearly slammed shut as something slammed hard into the back, only Alex’s quick hands prevented him form getting a mouth full of door.  He slowly pushed the door open and peered around, seeing a flustered looking women holding her hands to her forehead cursing under her breath.  “Sorry,” Alex muttered, as Keedra peered out from behind him.  “Are you all right?”

The woman nodded, grimacing.  “I’m looking for someone,” she said removing her hands from the large red spot covering her forehead.

The two winced in sympathy, at eh site of the welt.  “Who are you looking for?” Keedra asked.

“Cadet Wolfstorm,” the woman said.

“And you are...?” Alex asked.

“Lt. Aurora Buchanan.  Well cadet actually.  But only until graduation, then I will be lieutenant.  You are...?”

“I’m Cadet Fasir!” Keedra piped up cheerfully.  “You may call me Keedra if you like.”

“Cadet Geist.” Alex replied coldly.

“Got a first name, Cadet?”

“Yes.”

“It’s Alex,” Keedra replied when it became clear nothing more was coming from the silver eyed cadet.

“Well if you see her, would please let me know?  I’d hate to have to explain how I lost my charge first day on the job.”

Alex made an odd sound then, across between a snort and a chuckle.  “She’s done burned through another,” he muttered.

“Excuse me?” Aurora asked, arching an eyebrow at him.

“You’re wolf sitter number four.” Alex said, turning and heading for the stairs.  “Four, in six months.”

“We’re heading for lunch,” Keedra told her.  “You’re welcome to join us.”

“Uh, sorry, but no.  I really have to find her.”  Aurora told him as Keedra shrugged and headed out after Alex.  “It was a pleasure meeting you two,” she called out.  “I think.”

“Good luck,” Alex called out opening the door to the stairwell.

It was another hot day in Southern California Alex realized as he stepped outside. ‘It’s always hot in this godforsaken desert’ he thought, though Keedra dealt with it well.  Though Alex didn’t understand how.  The surface temperature of Mars was even colder than that of the fatherland.

The parade ground was littered with people, which Alex pointedly ignored as he wove a twisted path towards the cafeteria, which he knew would be packed.  He silently made his way through his line until her was actually giving something that’s edibility was in question.  “Now we need a seat?” he told the taller man, who was busy scanning the crowded room.

“Over there,” he said, pointing.  Alex followed him until Keedra stopped at a table, and though Keedra seemed happy, the woman sitting there did not.

“Oh,” Alex muttered as he saw her.  “You.”

~~

In spite of Wolfstorm's reaction, Keedra started grinning.  He thought maybe a friendly smile would bring a sense of peace to the human.  Unfortunately it wasn't having the effect he was going for.

"What the hell are you grinning about?"  she inquired, her mouth forming a frown.

"Uh, I'm just in a good mood, I suppose,"  Keedra responded, his smile waning.

"Hmph, good for you.  Now could you find another table to sit?  You too, Snowflake."

Zan heard a snort and a sigh in reply.

"Look, there's no need for drama.  Just find another table.  I was enjoying the solitude.  Geez."

Keedra blinked and looked to where alex had been standing and saw that he was no longer there.  He was headed to another table.  Keedra quietly decided to follow.  Once he caught up with his room mate, he leaned over to ask a simple question.

"Alex, did I do something to offend her?"

"Yeah, you showed up,"  he responded flatly.

~~

Aurora paced the dorm hallway, trying to simultaneously relieve her headache while avoiding the giant goose-egg blooming in the middle of her forehead.  She pressed the tips of her fingers to her temples, trying to think around the dull thud in her head.

She couldn't have been in her room that long, she reasoned.  Her bags had kept her occupied for a few minutes, true, and she'd put up a few more prints to keep the place from looking like a prison cell.  And her coffee maker had been unpacked and ceremoniously started.  No place was home until there was coffee available.  She hadn't even heard the opening and closing of the suite's door, and only the silence and sense of stillness had gotten her attention.

She paused near the fire-watch station, reviewing the search so far.  Zan wasn't in the long wrap-around hall, or the two kitty-corner ladies' rooms.  She'd seen first-hand Zan's relationship with the majority of the other cadets, so the possibility that she was visiting cozily in another room seemed remote as the North Pole on a blazing August day.

The cadet on duty cleared his throat, probably a bit unnerved by her frantic meanderings, and a lightbulb made its way through the pain.

"Did Cadet Wolfstorm check out of the dorms?" she asked.

The cadet hummed and hawwed, obviously torn about answering.

"I'm assigned to... Oh, never mind.  If the answer was no, you'd say so quickly enough."  She looked down at her watch and noticed that it was a few minutes past noon.  Retrieving her ID from her pocket, she swiped it and left.  People, she had noticed, were creatures of habit.  10 minutes past noon meant almost everyone was in one place, so that was the place to pick up the search.

Within five minutes, she was standing across the corner table from Zan.

"Maybe you didn't understand me earlier.  When you go out, I am to accompany you so that various unpleasant incidents do not take place.  When I asked you to keep me apprised of your movements, I was trying to be nice about it, because I understand that it's a pain in the ass to have someone dogging your heels.  But if you make it necessary, I will make it much more unpleasant."

~~

Zan sat half hunched over her salad, glancing up and glowering at the other woman as she stabbed at her food with the fork. She let her attitude and look speak for her at the moment. All she wanted to do was to be left alone so that she could eat in peace and take care of what she needed to take care of .. but no. First the Jolly Green Giant and Snowflake show up, then Mother Hen shows up and starts clucking.

She just stared at Cadet Buchanan, her eyes shaded a cool lupine blue. Normally within a few moments whomever she was staring at would start to fidget and shift from foot to foot before finally finding some other place then needed to be.

~~

Pulling out a chair, Aurora sat.  She'd had daggers glared at her before, granted not as effectively, but she would be damned if she'd let something as paltry as a nasty look send her running.

"Look, this isn't an ideal situation for either of us.  I thought I gave up the babysitting gig when I started working at the Stop-N-Shop, and you're way too old to need your damned diaper changed.  But I have been assigned to watch you, and right now, you have to make a choice.  You can make it easy for me, or I can make it difficult for you.  If you don't want to say word one to me beyond 'I'm going to the can,' or 'I'm going to the mess,' fine.  But if you don't TELL me where you're going, I'll make it impossible for you to go anywhere without asking first.  And I don't think either of us wants that."'

~~

Zan narrowed her eyes, curling the edge of her lips back slightly. “I don’t take kindly to threats. Of any kind.” She sat up straighter, using her fork to make jabbing motions at Aurora. “Why don’t you take that mother hen attitude of yours and go find some eggs to sit on for the rest of the day. You can then have all the fun and joy of trying to keep up tomorrow morning.” Using the fork she stabbed downwards into the salad, metal fork chinking against the bowl before being lifted again so that she could eat.

~~

Alex set his tray down and began to sit, when a rough voice called out from behind him.  “Hey!  That’s our table!”

Alex turned and saw a group of about five students walking towards him and Keedra, each carrying a tray.  “Excuse me?”

“You heard me,” the ring leader said.  At least Alex assumed he was the ring leader.  He was the tallest of the group, measuring around 6'5, and Alex would put his weight at around 250lbs. Alex guessed they were pilots.  Cocky bastards. “This is our table, sword boy!”

Alex narrowed his eyes at the larger cadet but conceded.  There was nothing to be gained by fighting.  As much Alex hated to admit it.  “My mistake,” he said, and gathered up his tray.  He looked around the room.  No free able except…

“Scheisse,” he muttered as he saw the only free table was he one, currently occupied by the illustrious Captain and the frazzled lieutenant from earlier.  He dropped his tray on the table not far from Zan and sat down.

“You disappoint me Snowflake,” Zan chuckled from her seat.  “You’re the last person I’d expect to see slink away with your tail between your legs.” She said between mouthfuls of food

“It’s rude to talk with your mouth full,”  he mumbled as he sat down, picking absently at his food.  He was no longer hungry.  Behind him he could hear the men cracking on each other, while Keedra tried to be friendly with the two women.

His anger was only agitated when one on the pilots mentioned something about a wolf girl, while another let forth a loud howl, which attracted many stares and elicited more than a few chuckles.  Zan was glowering while Aurora seemed oblivious.

Guess she doesn’t know with score yet, Alex thought darkly to himself. What happened next quickly clued her in.

“Wolf girl!” the leader called out slouched in his seat and turned enough to see them all.  “Wolves are like dogs right?  If I gave you my bone, think you could find a place to bury it?”

The cafeteria exploded into laughter, and Aurora turned a shade of red Alex had never seen a human achieve before.  She stammered in her seat eyes bulging before Zan spoke.  “Don’t!  Just... don’t.”

“Are you serious?  I can’t... I won’t...”

“I fight my own battles,” she growled, her eyes a dark gray.

Aurora hardly seemed convinced and swivelled in her seat just in time to see Alex’s hand snatch a hurled carton of milk out of the air.  No one spoke and the cafeteria grew silent.  Alex turned his head to see the jackass brigade glancing over their shoulders, snickering to themselves.

It was the proverbial straw that broke the camels back as the angry young German got to his feet and approached the table he had ceded not minutes earlier.  “I think you dropped this.” he said coldly.

“I think you’re mistaken,” the lead said, his back turned.

“No.  I’m not.”

“Tell you what,” the other said craning his neck, to look at the young man standing above him.  “Why don’t you keep it?  Does a body good you know.”

“Awfully kind of you,”Alex said, slowly opening the carton as the pilot turned around.  “Sure you don’t want it?  Helps build strong bones after all.”

Again the cafeteria exploded in laughter.  Laughter that tapered off into stunned silence as Alex turned the carton upside down and dumped it’s contents on the pilots head.  The pilot shrieked and jerked backwards, stumbling out of his seat away from the downpour of milk.  “What the fuck is your problem!?”

Alex tossed the carton at his chest and sneered at him.  “Wolves travel in packs.  You’d do well to remember that.”

“You little shit!” he spat, wiping the milk from his face.  “I’m gonna kick your ass you little runt!”

“You can try.”

“I’ll do more than try you albino runt!”  The pilot lurched to his feet, fist leading the way.  A fist Alex easily avoided, tilting his head to the side as the blow sailed past.  He ducked down, as the jab became a hook, and the limb soared over his head.  Alex saw the pilot’s foot shift as he redistributing his weight and was well prepared for the kick even before it lashed out.

Alex still crouched low, easily caught the foot by the ankle and pulled it out from under the man, resting the limb across his shoulder and forcing the man over his body to land fast first on the ground with a sick crunch, that Alex assumed was the other’s nose breaking.  Keeping his grip on the man’s ankles he rose to his feet, lifting the leg high in the air, then snaked his own leg around it, and dropped to his knees, roughly twisting the ankle as it dropped.

The snapping of bones was drowned out by the pilot’s scream but Alex felt the leg shatter as the kneecap was driven into the hard floor.  Alex the released the leg and rolled back, easily coming to his feet.

The entire exchange took less then than seconds, and the pilot lay crying on the ground clutching at his shattered limb.

Alex turned his cold gaze on the pilots sitting around the table, staring down at their wounded companion, only when the felt Alex looking at them did they break their stare.  “Do we have a problem?”

The pilots recognized the challenge for what it was and wisely wanted to know part of the white haired youth.  Alex briskly turned on his heel and marched back to his seat sitting down , and eating as if nothing was amiss.

“Hardcore!” Zan exclaimed while the other two stared at him, their jaws agape.

“Jesus!  Was that really necessary?” Aurora exclaimed, likewise staring at the downed man, his buddies now crowding around him.

“If they have learned that I will not tolerate such behavior then yes, I’d say it was well worth it.”

“What gives you the right to–”

“You teach people how to treat you.  That gives me the right to dictate to others how I will be treated.  You’d be wise to do the same.”  Alex responded curtly, eating quickly.  He cared not for the food, nor was he hungry.  But he knew he had to eat while he could.  The medics and MP’s would not be long in coming.

~~

Aurora glared at the back of Alex’s head for a long moment, but he ignored her, consumed in his lunch.  She continued to stare until the heavy tread of several pairs of boots running caught her attention.  She moved to the door, trying to put some kind of plausible story together in her head.

“What’s going on here?” the first MP through the door asked.

“Just some minor trouble,” Aurora assured him, trying to artfully keep herself between the officers and the fallen man.  “Someone slipped and went down pretty hard.  I think we need a medic.”

He stared at her a moment, as if daring her to pull the other one, then looked over her head to the huddle behind her, assessing.  For a moment, she was certain he was going to call her on her outrageous lie and lead her away with Alex, clapped in irons. He slipped, she thought over and over. There was a puddle and he slipped.

“What’d he slip on?” the MP asked.

“Milk.  There was a puddle.  Someone should really clean it up.”

The MP snorted.  “Yeah, when they get around to it.  You want it cleaned, you better do it yourself.”

Aurora nodded quickly.  “You’re probably right.”  She stepped to the side, drawing the MP with her to let the corpsmen through.  Within moments, they had loaded the injured pilot onto a stretcher and removed him.

The MP watched with impassive eyes.  “All that expensive training, and he slips on a puddle of milk.”

Aurora just shrugged.  “Life is a great mystery.” Go away go away go away.

“All right.  That’s about it for us, I guess.  Be sure to stop by the security office and fill out a report, Lieutenant.”

Her hand jerked, almost flying to her collar where her lieutenant’s bars were still in place.  In her rush to find Zan, she had completely forgotten to change the hardware on her uniform.  “Thank you, Sergeant.  I’ll do that.”

He nodded and offered her a salute before leaving, and once the coast seemed clear, she made her way back over to the huddle of cadets.

~~

Zan watched from her seat as the young woman she dubbed ‘Mother Hen’ spoke with the MPs. Her lips curled in a smirk as Aurora’s hand jerked towards her collar and the lieutenant’s bars still in place. ‘She must have forgotten to take them off,’ Zan thought to herself as she reached up and fingered her own rank insignia on her own collar. She had never bothered switching out the hardware, nor did she intend to start now, nearly six months after the time she had arrived. She leaned back once Aurora returned to the table and sat down again. “Forget something, Lieutenant?” Zan said with a smirk. At Aurora’s scowl the smirk just grew bigger. She was sorely tempted to just get up and finish up with what she had to do and not let the younger woman get a chance to catch her breath. Zan would have said more but one of the MPs walked over to the table and gave Zan an accusing look but said nothing. “Yes?”

The MP’s eyes narrowed at the insular tone of voice that Zan used. “Did you see anything, Cadet Wolfstorm?”

Zan started to snarl a nasty reply but a sharp kick to her shin distracted her. Her eyes shifted to Aurora who was sitting with a way to innocent look on her face. Snowflake wasn’t the type and the Jolly Green Giant was too kind to do something like that.

“Well Cadet, did you or did you not see anything?”

“Yeah, I saw something… I saw the dickhead being an idiot and tossing a carton of milk around before he went down,” she replied as she gave Aurora a return kick to the shin. “Him and his buddies are known to pull pranks on other cadets. Guess he just got what he deserved.”

The MP frowned but had no proof that she was lying, other then a gut feeling. “I see. If you remember anything, be sure to let the Lieutenant here know so she can include it in the report.” He gave her another look before glancing at the other two cadets at the table then turning around and leaving.

~~

“Why did you do that?” Alex asked calmly, though the white knuckled grip on his fork might have betrayed his inner tension to anyone observant enough to see.

“Do what?” Aurora asked, clearly puzzled.  A relieved expression would refer to the retreating MPs but his expression was anything but relieved?

“Save your albino hide?” Zan asked lazily, arching an eyebrow at him.

“Actually,” Keedra broke in.  He seemed as yet oblivious to human emotions and didn’t recognize the growing ire in Alex’s voice.  “While pale skin and white hair are traits of albinism a true albino would have red eyes and...”

He broke off as Alex turned his steely gazer over him.  He didn’t need to read emotions to recognize a threat when he saw one.  “I don’t need saving,”Alex growled after cowing Keedra.

“That’s gratitude for you.”Aurora mumbled in disbelief.  “You go and do something so incredibly reckless and I--”

“Reckless?!”  Alex nearly shouted, his voice treading a fine line between incredulity and rage.  “I may be a lot of things,” he continued, a bit more in control, “but reckless is not one of them.  I knew what I was doing.”

“Could’ve fooled me.” Aurora muttered darkly.

“Not all that hard apparently” Alex muttered back.  He shook his head and raked his finger through his snow white hair.  “He... attacked... me!  I was defending myself, any halfwit could’ve seen that.”

Aurora bit back a stinging retort of her own and softly mumbled, “you provoked him, this ‘halfwit’ clearly saw that!”

Alex shook his head and stood.  “And had he let it stay at that I would’ve been chastised appropriately.  The moment he chose to escalate it to physical violence any claim he had at provocation evaporated.  So next time you feel like doing me a favor,” Alex sneered, gathering up his tray, “don’t.”

The trio watched him stalk off a throng of people parting for him like a school of fish in front of a great white.  Keedra fumbled with his own tray and made to rise.  “I should go after him...”

“Great idea!” Zan said, smiling her predator’s smile.  “Where would you like to be buried?”

Keedra looked at her for a few moments and slowly sat down, realizing that going after him might not be a good idea.');

 


End file.
